the blowing snow is getting a bit tiresome but it has also produced some beautiful designs…
this was the view from the den yesterday morning… the pergola and Virginia creeper collect the snow in some stunning ways…

12 Saturday Mar 2022
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
09 Wednesday Mar 2022
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, moments, nature, snacking, snow, solar, squirrel, weather, widow
enough snow has melted on the table on the deck so that the squirrels have been able to find the sunflower seeds again…
this little guy was busy snacking away…

the snow is going down very slowly… this is a picture taken February 20th…

and this photo shows the back corner of the yard last night… for the first time the solar dragonflies were lit…

encouraging to see a tiny bit of melting…
08 Tuesday Mar 2022
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, car, driving, drove, grandson, Indi, moments, nature, out and about, snow, snowbank, weather, widow
yesterday I drove the car… woohoo… it has been four months since I was last in it… I see the doctor every three or four months and that is the only time I am out and about on my own…

the drive was fine, although the corners were difficult to maneuver with so much snow making it hard to see if other vehicles were coming…
in the afternoon I also drove to the eye doctor’s office to have my glasses tightened… been a very long time since I’ve been in a store… they had excellent procedures in place which made it feel safe… and the great news is that now my glasses don’t fall off my face when I bend over, lol…
seems like everywhere I went there were big trucks that were being filled with snow on street corners…
spring is coming… there were puddles right next to huge banks of snow…

and then, my grandson arrived and off went the car;-)…
06 Sunday Mar 2022
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
backed, big girl pants, blessed, car, driveway, family, flowers, grandson, in the house, Indi, moments, shovelling, snow, treat, weather, widow
today the kids came to drop off the car… and shovel the driveway… it was sunny and a balmy -16C…

there was a lot of snow because it hadn’t been cleared for at least two big snows…
didn’t take them very long and then they backed Indi in so it will be easy for me to get out tomorrow… seems strange to see her in the driveway, lol…

and, they brought me flowers… what a delightful treat…

we had a short visit in the house before they headed off for the rest of their busy day…
04 Friday Mar 2022
Posted in life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fun, moments, nature, seeds, snow, snowbank, squirrel, stretching, weather, widow
today I had fun watching a squirrel eat from the feeder at the front…

it was basically just stretching up from the snowbank…
I’ve been waiting to see that as the snow has gotten higher and higher…

looking forward to some melting;-)…
28 Monday Feb 2022
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
avalanche, big girl pants, blessed, crevice, hydrant, moments, nature, sidewalk, snow, snow plow, weather, widow
had some excellent entertainment a few days ago…
I had called the city as the fire hydrant in my front yard had been covered with a windrow when the city cleared the snow from the streets recently…
they also missed cleaning the end of my driveway… it hasn’t been shovelled for the last few storms so it was hard to tell there was actually a driveway there, lol…
anyway, a vehicle came with a big scoop on the front of it and I had a great time watching how well the driver maneuvered it… they cleaned out the area around the fire hydrant, and even got out to be sure where it was… for a minute I was worried about what would happen if they hit it… yikes…

then they cleared the windrow at the bottom of the driveway… they backed up and went down the street looking for places where they could dump it…
finally, they scraped a spot in front of the neighbour’s where two cars had been plowed in… the neighbour dug one out and moved it back a few feet, but there were a couple of inches of packed snow where the car had been… they danced around the vehicles… very talented people…
when I was out shovelling today, I took a few photos along the walkway… I had noticed crevices in the middle of the front snowbank and took a picture of one close to the sidewalk…

I hope it doesn’t cause an avalanche into the sidewalk, lol…
27 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, keep learning, learning, moments, nature, seasons, snow, sunlight, sunshine, warm, weather, widow
following my learnings from the webinars I’ve been watching, I had a bit of fun taking some photos of me sitting and reading in the sunshine…


it is wonderful when the sun starts to feel warm when sitting in it…
these photos were taken with my Nikon on the tripod… it was fun to play with the lighting and timer, lol…
the sunlight is also coming back into the kitchen, and I took a few shots there using my iPhone…

as long as I don’t look outside and see all the snow I can celebrate that spring really is on its way…
26 Saturday Feb 2022
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fill, garden, happy, hose, hot tub, moments, nature, snow, top up, water, weather, widow
well, I am a happy camper…
the hot tub has needed a top-up for a number of weeks, but every time it has been warm enough, or not snowing, the lid has been frozen shut…
and the less water in it the more the jets run and more water evaporates…
today I was able to go out and open it… yay… it took nearly fifteen minutes to top it up so I was pleased to get it done…

I’m not exactly sure that I can open both covers enough to get in it, but at least it has enough water for awhile…
the extendable hose works perfectly… it runs up the stairs and out the door easily so the filling part is simple…

there is a lot of snow out there, lol…
21 Monday Feb 2022
Posted in life, loss, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, drifts, fallen, garden, moments, nature, record amounts, snow, weather, widow
after all these days of snow I hadn’t felt like that much had fallen…
this was the garden Saturday at 3:06 pm…

and this was the same spot yesterday at 7:40 am… the gazing ball on its stand is no longer visible…

I guess more came down than I thought, lol…
the last few years we haven’t had much snow, but we appear to be making up for that now… a number of reports are suggesting that we’ve hit some records…

in this photo from yesterday, you can see how high the snow is on the railing… and the lovely drifts along the sidewalk…
20 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, nature, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blizzard, furnace, knee-deep, moments, nature, Olympics, shovel, snow, Technology, vents, weather, widow
got up at 5:30 am to watch the Olympics closing ceremony…
while I was cozied up in the bed, I could hear the furnace turn on and then off, and on and off, and on and off… I knew immediately what the issue was…
for the last three days we have been under a blizzard warning… I hadn’t thought that much snow had fallen, but I was wrong…
put on leggings, socks and my outer gear and went out the front door with a shovel and a straightened coat hanger… over the last years I have learned how to clean out the vents and be sure there is no snow inside them…
the snow was knee-deep in many places and I didn’t shovel, I just climbed through…

the vents weren’t visible except for a small hole where the exhaust vent was still blowing out air… the intake was under about eight inches of snow…

only took about ten minutes to dig them out… the snow was tossed into the middle of the driveway because there isn’t anywhere else to put it… did a quick swipe with the hanger and headed back in…

once I was in the house I could hear the furnace working… yay…
climbed back under the covers and watched the rest of the show, although about half an hour later my legs started to feel cold…
another example of those big girl pants, lol…